The following recommendations* concerning the establishment of animal sentinel systems were issued by the National Research Council in 1991:
1) Animal diseases that can serve as sentinel events to identify environmental health hazards for humans or indicate insults to an ecosystem should be legally reportable to appropriate state or federal health agencies.
2) When reporting systems are established for environmental diseases of animals in a defined geographic area, every appropriate effort should be made to compare the frequency and pattern of these diseases with those of corresponding diseases in humans, and it should be determined whether animals can provide early warning of health hazards to humans.
3) Existing animal sentinel systems should be coordinated on regional and national scales to avoid duplication of effort and maximize use of resources, and standardization of methods and approaches should be encouraged.
*National Research Council. 1991. Animals as Sentinels of Environmental Health Hazards. Committee on Animals as Monitors of Environmental Hazards, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.